Eight South Africans are among the twelve killed by a female suicide bomber near Kabul International Airport early this morning

At least twelve people, including eight South Africans, were killed in a suicide car bombing in Kabul early this morning, the SA department of International Relations and Cooperation has confirmed.

“Our mission in Islamabad in Pakistan, which is also accredited in Afghanistan, has informed us that eight South Africans were among the dead in the explosion which occurred in Kabul early this morning,” foreign affairs spokesperson Nelson Kgwete told AFP.

The South Africans, all believed to be men, were working for a private aviation company and were on their way to Kabul International Airport when the blast went off. According to Eyewitness News, the victims were employed by a South African company based at Rand Airport in Johannesburg.

The attack was carried out by a female representing Afghanistan’s second largest insurgent group, Hezb-i-Islami. In a statement, the group revealed their motivation for the attack was in avenge to the Youtube trailer release of the US-made “Innocence of Muslims,” a film mocking the Prophet Muhammed.

â€œThe bombing was carried out by a woman named Fatima. The bombing was in retaliation for the insult to our Prophet,” spokesman Zubair Sidiqi revealed to AFP via telephone.

The film has sent a fury of anti-US demonstrations across the Middle East, North Africa, and Asia since the trailer release. More than 30 people have been killed in total since protests began last week, including the US Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens.

This morning’s bombing saw the highest number of casualties in a single attack since protests against the film began. It was also the deadliest attack on foreigners in Kabul since last April, when an Afghan air force pilot killed eight US military flight instructors and one American civilian after an altercation broke out at Kabul International Airport.